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With the end of the NHL season drawing to a close, it's time to hand out some end of season awards. theScore's fantasy department wants YOU, the readers and fantasy players, to vote and decide the winner of each award. When voting, value players relative to standard league scoring:
Skaters
Goalies
Goals
Wins
Assists
SV%
+/-
GAA
PPP
Shutouts
PIMs
SOG
Criteria: The Fantasy Draft Bust of the Year award should be handed out to the player who drastically failed to meet expectations, after being selected with an early-round pick.
Nominee: C Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
G
A
+/-
PPP
PIM
SOG
12
40
-10
19
28
150
The case: Given the depth of the center position, Kopitar had become drop-worthy by fantasy playoff time. His shot total plummeted and his goal scoring suffered as a result. As last year's Selke Trophy winner, you figured you could at least bank on a solid plus/minus, but it wasn't the case. If you drafted him in the second round, you probably didn't go too far in your league.
Nominee: C Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers
G
A
+/-
PPP
PIM
SOG
14
44
-15
31
38
199
The case: Giroux, not unlike Kopitar, is an underachieving center who was likely taken in the second round. He too, took fewer shots this season and it resulted in a lackluster goal total. This marks the fourth straight season in which Giroux's point total has regressed. Playing on a poor Flyers team with awful goaltending has resulted in a horrendous plus/minus.
Nominee: RW Corey Perry, Anaheim Ducks
G
A
+/-
PPP
PIM
SOG
19
34
2
20
76
215
The case: Perry had scored 30 goals in five consecutive non-lockout-shortened seasons heading into 2016-17. This consistency made him worthy of a third-round pick this season. Fantasy owners patiently waited for him to come around all year, but it just didn't happen.
Firing general manager and interim head coach Tom Rowe on Monday, the Panthers handed the reins back to former GM-turned-president Dale Tallon.
Tallon served as GM of the Panthers from 2010 to 2016, a stretch that included two division wins. Florida's 2012 playoff appearance marked its first trip to the postseason since 2000, ending the league's longest playoff drought.
Given that success, it was unexpected when Tallon was ousted from the GM post following their playoff exit last spring, given the Panthers were finally on the upward trajectory after more than a decade in the hockey wilderness.
Tallon's dismissal aligned with the ascension of Rowe, who previously served as head coach of the Panthers' AHL squad before a promotion to associate GM and then the top job.
Rowe doubled as the interim bench boss this season following a poorly executed firing of Tallon's hand-picked coach in Gerald Gallant, whose 103-point finish with Florida in 2015-16 marked the best season in franchise history. Rowe will remain with the Panthers in an advisory role.
Much of the team's struggles this season - one in which the Panthers finished with 81 points - draw back to Tallon's removal from the GM post.
Arriving in South Florida after building a championship club with the Blackhawks, Tallon came with all the credentials, having drafted and developed a Stanley Cup-winning team in Chicago.
Now back in the GM chair, Tallon's focus is hiring the Florida's next head coach. Some stability is sorely needed, as the franchise has gone through 14 bench bosses in its 23-year history. Only Jacques Martin and Peter DeBoer have recorded more than 100 wins as Panthers coach.
Tallon told Craig Davis of the Sun-Sentinel the search for the team's next head coach could be in the "months" category, describing his ideal candidate as "a contemporary guy that can handle the younger player today and understands that they still have to be coached and mentored and taught and yet still have that passion to win."
Tallon says no thoughts on bringing Gallant back. Will look at list of young available coaches. some candidates on teams in playoffs
"We're turning the page on a disappointing season. From today, we're moving forward with a singular voice under my leadership in hockey operations," Tallon added. "We're going to learn from our mistakes and we're going to turn this around quickly."
Blake is the new general manager of the Los Angeles Kings, replacing Dean Lombardi, who was fired Monday. And in addition to finding a new head coach, after Darryl Sutter was let go as well, Blake is going to have to work some miracles in order to fix the Kings.
Lombardi and Sutter won two Stanley Cups together, and deserve all the credit in the world for bringing a first NHL championship to Los Angeles. But Lombardi, especially, erred in keeping parts of the aging core of those teams together. And now the Kings are - to put it plainly - screwed.
We've got no issue with Drew Doughty's deal, and can even live with Alec Martinez's and Jake Muzzin's, but the fact is none of these guys are getting any younger.
Lombardi gave Jonathan Quick a 10-year, $58-million deal in 2012, fresh off a Cup win. He gave Marian Gaborik a seven-year, $34.125-million contract in the summer of 2014, when he was in his early 30s, and after he scored 14 goals in the playoffs as the Kings won their second Cup. Winning, like love, is blind.
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Believe it or not, it actually gets worse. In July 2013, then-captain Dustin Brown inked an eight-year, $47-million extension. Since then, he's put up seasons of 27, 27, 28, and 36 points, and was stripped of his captaincy.
More recently, in January 2016, Lombardi signed Anze Kopitar to an eight-year, $80-million extension. This past season was the worst of Kopitar's career.
Each of the players mentioned played integral roles during the Cup years, in addition to guys like Justin Williams and Mike Richards, who have moved on. But what Lombardi did was pay for his players' past performances, pay for the Cup wins, and now the Kings are paying the price - literally and figuratively.
Toss in the fact Los Angeles has drafted in the first round only once in the past four years, and the situation gets even worse. Sure, that's the price of winning the Stanley Cup, one the Kings would surely pay again, but locking up an aging core for so long was a mistake that will not easily be undone.
Expansion draft
Looking ahead to Las Vegas' entrance into the NHL, here's a projection of who the Kings will protect in the expansion draft, with the club going the eight skaters and one goaltender route:
Forbort, only 25, averaged 20 minutes a game in ice time, fourth among the club's defensemen. Based on those factors - he's a top-four defenseman - he's got to be protected.
That means Brown and Gaborik will be exposed, but Vegas won't bite, not with those contracts. They're better off taking the likes of Trevor Lewis (30 years old, $2-million cap hit), Kyle Clifford (26, $1.6-million cap hit), or Brayden McNabb (26, $1.7-million cap hit).
There's talk of buying Gaborik out, since it's basically impossible to trade him, and the Kings may have to bite that bullet.
Looking ahead
Complicating matters further: Toffoli, 24, is a restricted free agent this summer, along with Pearson, also 24. The latter finished second on the team in goals and tied for third in points after a career-high 24 and 44. It's these guys who you give long-term, big-money deals to, not the Browns and Gaboriks of the world, when they're in their 30s.
And before Blake and the Kings know it, Doughty's contract will be up in two years. And the truth is, if Doughty's signed to a long-term, big-money extension as he hits 30, Los Angeles will have learned nothing from its past mistakes.
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
Now, no one's suggesting the Kings should and will let Doughty walk in unrestricted free agency. They shouldn't. They can't. They won't. But it's time for some tough decisions to be made in the Los Angeles front office, and if the club wants to rebuild, if it truly wants to send itself on the correct path, trading Doughty must be explored, this summer or next. With two years left on his current deal as of July 1, he can be packaged with one of the bad contracts, in order to get a deal done, with prospects coming back the other way. Two birds, one stone.
Yeah, the thought of trading Doughty will not sit well with Kings supporters; it's perhaps a non-starter, but think of the old saying: "It's better to have loved and won two Stanley Cups, than to have never won at all."
It won't be easy
It's too late to correct Lombardi's mistakes. Studies have shown that players peak at 25, give or take a year either way. The information's out there and the data proves it. Guys hit 30 and their decline begins. Winning teams more and more are and will be built through the draft, not through free agency, and big-money deals will be handed out to guys in their early-to-mid 20s (think Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and Jonathan Drouin's coming contract). You look for complementary players on July 1, not core players.
To add insult to injury, Lombardi showed over the past couple of years in building the Kings and the U.S. national team that he was putting less and less emphasis on skill, while everyone else was doing the opposite. The banners fly forever, there's no doubting that, but there's also no doubting that Lombardi's time in Los Angeles had run its course.
This is going to take Blake and Co. a while. That's about all that's certain as the new general manager takes his post.
Hitchcock was fired by the St. Louis Blues earlier this season after spending parts of six seasons in Missouri. While he never led the Blues to their first Stanley Cup, he made his best impression a year ago, when St. Louis advanced to the Conference Finals.
Hitchcock preaches a strong defensive game, which should help shore up the Stars' woes in their own zone. His style has been criticized for stifling offensive players, like Stars center Tyler Seguin, but the success Hitchcock had with Blues superstar Vladimir Tarasenko should quiet those concerns.
A return to Dallas would mark the fifth stop for Hitchcock after previous stints with Philadelphia and Columbus. The tenured bench boss sits fourth all time in wins, behind only Scotty Bowman, Joel Quenneville, and Al Arbour.
Florida Panthers
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Out: Tom Rowe | In: Dallas Eakins
Tom Rowe is out as head coach, but the Panthers' trust in analytics is still very much alive.
In that sense, Dallas Eakins is the perfect match. The up-and-coming head coach would see his second stint as an NHL bench boss in joining the Panthers after his previous gig leading the Edmonton Oilers.
Things have changed since his 2015 dismissal. Eakins has spent the past two seasons guiding the AHL's San Diego Gulls, the Anaheim Ducks' minor-league club, pushing the club to the second round of the playoffs a year ago. The squad is poised for a return to the postseason this year, having won 40 of 65 contests.
Eakins, 50, was fired in his second season with the Oilers, perhaps in recognition that he wasn't quite ready for the top job in the NHL at the time. He wouldn't be the first coach who made his NHL coaching debut too soon. Just ask Calgary Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan, who had a short-lived stint as coach of the Stars at age 40. Gulutzan resurfaced as the Flames' head coach this season, and has been one of the top bench bosses of the campaign.
An added bonus? Eakins is a Florida native who spent parts of three seasons of his playing career with the Panthers.
Los Angeles Kings
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Out: Darryl Sutter | In: Bob Hartley
One of Rob Blake's first jobs as the new general manager of the Kings will be to appoint the franchise's next head coach. He could turn to a familiar face in veteran Bob Hartley.
Hartley's last stint behind an NHL bench came in 2015-16 with the Flames, but Blake's most familiar with Hartley as the coach who led the Colorado Avalanche to the Stanley Cup in 2001, a squad which counted Blake among its defensemen.
Hartley's resume boasts his winning pedigree, in not only a Cup with Colorado, but also championships in the QMJHL, AHL, and Swiss League.
The experienced bench boss pushes an imposing style that could fit the Kings perfectly. The reality is much of Los Angeles' core is locked up long term, from forwards Dustin Brown, Marian Gaborik, and Anze Kopitar, to goaltender Jonathan Quick.
It'd be up to Hartley to unleash the most from that group and push the Kings back into the winner's circle.
Vancouver Canucks
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
Out: Willie Desjardins | In: Travis Green
The Canucks have begun to embrace a youth movement on the ice, and that could soon extend to the bench as well.
Within the organization, Vancouver has one of the most promising up-and-coming coaches in AHL bench boss Travis Green.
He was a hot commodity last offseason, interviewing for the head coaching job with Avalanche, and those inquiries are sure to continue in the future, unless Green climbs the organizational ladder with the Canucks.
Green has spent the past four seasons in Utica, with his best season coming in 2014-15 when the Comets advanced to the Calder Cup Finals. Prior to joining the AHL, Green led the Portland Winterhawks to the WHL championship in his first year as a head coach in the junior ranks.
Green's success at the developmental levels and his ability to teach and communicate with young players, not to mention his near 1,000 games of experience as an NHL forward, shows he has plenty to offer the Canucks.
Vegas Golden Knights
(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)
In: Darryl Sutter
Darryl Sutter's time in the unemployment line won't last long. It can't when your name is etched on the Stanley Cup in two of the last five years.
That winning pedigree pushes Sutter to the top of the list as the first coach for the expansion Golden Knights. For a team that will largely be made up of rival teams' spare parts - at least initially - Sutter's strength to slow down the game and grind out victories would be invaluable for a squad short on skill.
That same tactic was used in the early years of the Nashville Predators, when former head coach Barry Trotz had the Predators punching above their weight class.
To his credit, and often unmentioned, Sutter's squads in Los Angeles have ranked first in possession. His familiarity with the Pacific Division, which the Golden Knights will join, is an added bonus.
The longtime bench boss sits 11th in all-time coaching wins, with 634 victories to his name. His resume also includes stops with the Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, and San Jose Sharks.
Big news out of Hollywood, as the Los Angeles Kings are turning the club over to a couple of franchise greats.
The club announced the firing of general manager and president Dean Lombardi and head coach Darryl Sutter on Monday, after another disappointing season that sees the Kings miss the playoffs for the second time in three years
Former Kings defenseman Rob Blake has been named the team's new GM and vice president, while former L.A. winger Luc Robitaille has been promoted to team president.
Blake will take over the day-to-day operations of the hockey club, while Robitaille will oversee all hockey and business operations.
Dan Beckerman, the president and CEO of AEG, the parent company of the Kings, announced the moves, calling the shuffling "an extremely difficult decision."
Lombardi was the fourth-longest tenured GM in the NHL, and leaves as the architect of two Stanley Cup-winning teams, in 2012 and 2014. Sutter was behind the bench for both.
Only 58, Sutter took over partway through the 2011-12 season, leading the Kings to their first Stanley Cup. He departs with a 225-147-53 record in six seasons, and is one of only 15 coaches to win over 600 regular-season games in his career.
With the two teams set to square off Thursday in Game 1 of their opening-round playoff series, Flames general manager Brad Treliving took the opportunity to fire back at Ducks brethren Bob Murray for remarks made last Friday.
"There were obviously some comments after last game," Treliving told Kristen Odland of the Calgary Herald. "But for someone to suggest that Mark Giordano is a dirty player and that was an intentional hit, obviously I think those are asinine comments."
Those "asinine comments" came from Murray, who sounded off to reporters after the Flames captain wasn't penalized for a knee-on-knee hit on Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler.
"The big thing in hockey today is concussions, but I still, as an old player, have no use for knee-on-knee hits, especially if I think they are somewhat intentional," Murray said Friday. "I hear how Gio is a good guy, and he's this and he's that. Well, he's done this before. I have no respect for people who go after knees. I'm sorry, but knees, they wreck your careers real quick. I don't like it."
Murray wasn't the only member of the Ducks' front office to take a swipe at Giordano, as Ducks bench boss Randy Carlyle called it a "travesty" that the Flames defenseman wasn't whistled on the play.
Anaheim later announced Fowler sustained a knee injury that will see him miss the next two-to-six weeks and sideline him for the start of the postseason. Giordano did not receive any supplemental discipline for the incident.
The rivalry between the Ducks and Flames has heated up this season, and the distaste should carry into the postseason. The last meetup saw plenty of physical play, with 106 penalty minutes called in the third period alone.
"We're going to go into the series not worried about what's happened before," Treliving added. "I don't think making comments about opposing players ... there's a method to the madness there as to try and put something in the officials' head going into the series. But we're not focused on that."
Hockey fans hope the looming playoff series is as intense as the executives' barbs.
Vancouver Canucks president Trevor Linden met with the media Monday afternoon after the club announced the firing of head coach Willie Desjardins in the morning.
Below are some of the more significant takeaways from the press conference.
Owning it
"(General manager) Jim (Benning) and I sit up here every bit as responsible," Linden said about the disappointing season the Canucks had, finishing second last in the league with 69 points, and the decision to let the coaching staff go.
Vancouver ranked 29th in goals per game (2.2), 24th in goals against (2.9), 29th on the power play (14.1 percent), and 28th on the penalty kill (76.7 percent). It was bad, any way you want to look at it.
Youth movement
Citing Troy Stecher and Nikita Tryamkin as examples of young players who were able to make the team and stick, Benning said the same approach will be used next season.
"When I look at where we are today, I'm a lot more optimistic than I've ever been. Our young players are good and prospect pool is deep" -TL
"We're three years into this, we're encouraged, but it takes time to develop young players and build a new young core," Linden added.
Vancouver did well at the deadline to acquire Jonathan Dahlen and Nikolay Goldobin for veterans Alex Burrows and Jannik Hansen, but the team still needs to get younger.
The Canucks ranked 17th in the NHL on opening night of the season with an average age of 27.6 (which has come down), according to The Athletic's James Mirtle.
Brock Boeser, drafted 23rd overall in 2015, had an impressive late-season cameo, scoring four goals in nine games. He'll be on the team next season.
Goaltender Thatcher Demko, selected 36th overall in 2014, has a .911 save percentage in his first season in the AHL. He's 21, and goalies take time, but there's promise here.
Unfortunately, sixth overall pick in 2014 Jake Virtanen did not have as much success in the AHL. He has nine goals and 18 points in 62 games.
Defenseman Olli Juolevi, drafted fifth overall last year, had another strong season in the OHL, with 10 goals and 42 points in 58 games.
Last August, ESPN ranked the Canucks' system the 13th-best in the NHL (Insider content), up from 15th, mentioning Juolevi, Demko, and Boeser as top-flight talent.
Oh, and there's also Bo Horvat, who at 22 next month has become both the present and future of the club. He led the team in scoring, the first time a non-Sedin did since 2005-06, when Markus Naslund paced the club with 79 points.
Miller time ... still?
Seemingly at odds with the youth movement is the desire to bring back free-agent goaltender Ryan Miller, who will turn 37 in July.
Benning confirmed he's spoken with Miller's agent, and that Miller will speak to his family before making a decision.
Miller had a .914 save percentage in 54 starts in his third season in Vancouver. Backup Jacob Markstrom, 27, signed through 2019-20, finished at .910 in 26 games (23 starts).
This is where it gets tricky for the Canucks. They clearly have a desire to put a competitive - in their terms, at least - team on the ice while the Sedin twins are still in Vancouver, but the Swedes don't fit into the youth movement either. They'll be 37 in September and are signed through next season.
"Our future is the kids and when they get up and play, that's a lot of fun," Linden said. "We're encouraged about what the future looks like."
If that's truly the case, it's time to make the difficult decision to try to trade the twins.
2017 Draft
Benning said the Canucks won't draft by positional need, which is obviously the right play. Vancouver has the second-best odds to land the first overall pick, presumed to be either forward Nolan Patrick or forward Nico Hischier.
Vancouver has six picks in the coming draft:
Round
Picks
1
1
2
1
3
1
4
2 (Conditional from SJ)
5
0
6
0
7
1
The condition on the pick from the San Jose Sharks, acquired in the Hansen deal, is a big one. It becomes a first-round selection should San Jose win the Stanley Cup.
Go Sharks, in other words, if you're a Canucks supporter.
The Metropolitan Division battle kicks off Wednesday at PPG Paints Arena, with Pittsburgh holding home-ice advantage. The two sides met four times in the regular season, with the Penguins taking the series 2-1-1. The Blue Jackets will now be out to right that record in the games that matter most.
Physical Foes
Most notably, the focal point of a Penguins-Blue Jackets series is the assured battles between Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby and Blue Jackets agitating center Brandon Dubinsky.
No other player seems to get under Crosby's skin quite like the Blue Jackets' alternate captain. Fights have been few and far between over Crosby's career, but the last time he dropped the gloves, in February 2015, Dubinsky was on the other end. Shutting down Sidney, and getting the Penguins captain off his game, will be a big help in the Blue Jackets grabbing a hold of the series.
If Dubinsky isn't enough to rile up Crosby, what about Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella? In his previous stint with the New York Rangers, the Columbus bench boss infamously referred to Crosby and teammate Evgeni Malkin as the Penguins' two whining stars.
Budding Rivalry
If rivalries are built in the playoffs, expect to see a budding clash between the Penguins and Blue Jackets.
This spring marks just the third playoff appearance for the Blue Jackets in their 16-year history, with their last postseason trip coming in 2014. That year saw the Blue Jackets open against the Penguins, pushing the series to six games. In the end, Columbus didn't come out on the winning side but the two victories marked the first in franchise history.
It's a different Columbus squad this time around. Previous iterations squeaked into the spring dance, but that's not the case this year. The Blue Jackets were one of the top teams all season long, a stretch that saw the club post a 16-game win streak, one short of the all-time record (set by the 1993 Penguins). Like the Penguins, the Blue Jackets were one of just four teams to reach the 50-win plateau this season.
Crosby Factor
Give Crosby a puck and stick and it's always must-see TV. The Penguins' leader resumed his role this season as one of the game's top players.
Putting up 44 goals this campaign, Crosby captured the Rocket Richard Trophy as the league's top goal-scorer. It marked his second time claiming the award, after doing so in 2009-10. The Blue Jackets will need to limit Crosby's chances in the postseason if they're to find victory.
Meanwhile, the goals didn't come as often from Columbus skaters, as the team presents a more balanced attack. Winger Cam Atkinson was the only Blue Jackets skater to finish with more than 30 goals (35). It marked a career high for Atkinson, while the next best was captain Nick Foligno (26).
